Surging coffee consumption in Korea motivates Brazilian farmers

Carlos Piccin, director of the coffee farm AC Cafe in Santa Lucia, Brazil, checks the waxy-green leaves and berries hanging on the coffee trees at the farm on Jan. 20. / Korea Times

Farmers grow certified coffees as emerging markets become sophisticated

By Kang Hyun-kyung

SANTA LUCIA, Brazil ― Carlos Piccin, director of the coffee farm AC Cafe in the southwestern city of Brazil, checks the waxy-green leaves and berries hanging on the coffee trees under the 40 Celsius degree heat on Tuesday.

While the coffee expert is worried about the drought, the big picture is looking good for this 23-year veteran of the business. Demand for coffee is on the rise, especially in foreign markets like Korea.

In the past decade, Korea has seen a rapid growth in coffee consumption. Starbucks first opened in Shincheon, Seoul in 1999. Now the nation has over 720 Starbucks coffee shops across the country.

Demand like this is great news for Piccin, but it does add pressure on his crops. Right now, those crops are struggling in the dry heat. If rain doesn’t fall soon, there could be problems.

“If it doesn’t rain by next week, I think production is going to decrease almost 30 percent compared with average annual production,” he explained through an interpreter.

Last year, there was a drought in the southwest state of Minas Gerais, where the crops are located. The area accounts for over 50 percent of coffee production in Brazil. Coffee farmers haven’t seen a single drop of rain for almost three months. Except for the light rain in December, it’s been dry.

A drought concerns Piccin. Rainfall can make or break coffee production. Sufficient moisture in the soil is necessary for good production. Without it, production drops and so does the quality of the coffee beans.

Stretched over an area of 2,308 hectares, this awarding-winning coffee farm produces an average of 80,000 bags of premium coffees annually.

Debbie Hill, executive director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence

Most of the certified coffee beans that are harvested here go abroad. Piccin says the United States, Germany, Britain, Japan and Korea are its major export destinations.

He says Brazilian coffee farmers are particularly excited about surging coffee consumption in Korea.

“I hope that we can export more coffees with higher prices to Korea,” he said.

In 2014, there were approximately 20,000 espresso-based coffee shops in Korea, nearly a five-fold increase in the past five years. In addition, the country imported a record 100,000 tons of coffee beans from all over the world. Brazil is one of the top three coffee suppliers to Korea. Vietnam is first, followed by Brazil and Colombia.

Moacir Aga Neto, a market analyst at the headquarters of coffee cooperative association CAPAL in Patrocinio, was curious about the driving forces behind such a rapidly expanding coffee market in Korea in recent years.

Neto witnessed Koreans’ coffee dependence firsthand in November when he visited the capital for the three-day Seoul Cafe Show.

“I heard that young people, who experienced freshly brewed espresso coffees during their stays in western countries, are behind the surge of coffee consumption in Korea,” he said.

Neto says demand for premium, certified coffee is growing in emerging markets like Korea and it’s motivating Brazilian farmers to grow premium coffee to satisfy sophisticated consumers.

“In 2013, we exported 100,000 bags of certified coffees produced in the region to several countries. Last year, we shipped 155,000 bags to foreign consumers,” he said.

Neto says more and more coffee farmers in the Minas Gerais region are motivated to produce certified coffees because of increasing demand.

Farmers tend to produce less coffees if they grow certified or specialty coffees because they have to follow strict rules to make their products traceable.

Despite the difficulties, Debbie Hill, executive director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence in Portland, Oregon, says they were motivated to go for certification programs once they realized that gains overweigh losses.

“If a farmer is going to do all the things that it takes to have quality coffee, they can get paid more,” she said.

Hill, who participated in the Cup of Excellence (COE) competition designed to encourage farmers to produce natural, specialty coffees by selecting the best coffees in the country, says farmers who win the COE competition are able to sell their coffees with much higher prices than average coffees.

“Once that happens, farmers see that there is a market for better coffee and realize that they can make more money,” she said. “Then farmers start devoting more land to these sorts of activities. So they may grow less coffee to produce higher-quality, specialty coffee. When that happens, of course, the farmer makes more money.”

Beginning in 1999 in Brazil, the COE contest has played a key role in encouraging Brazilian farmers to produce quality coffees. It is open to all Brazilian producers of Arabica coffee and classifies specialty coffees if they achieve the score of 85 points or higher on a 100-point scale.

The winners, which are selected by a group of international juries, are sold at auction by the COE. These brands obtain international exposure and recognition.

The COE contest also played a role to break the stereotype that Brazil coffee farmers focus on quantity, not quality.

Brazil is a global coffee production powerhouse. It is the world’s largest coffee exporter and the second largest coffee-consuming country.Warley Carlos De Oliveira, a professional cupper evaluating coffee quality at the CAPAL based in Araxa, claims Brazil, particularly Araxa, is home to some of the world’s best coffees.

“Coffees produced in this town have deep chocolate and caramel flavors,” he said. “And Brazilians love them.”

He says Brazilians can hardly imagine a life without coffee.